Semi - Wordless Wednesday

Katherine had her first t-ball game,  Matt is helping coach, here he is giving the team a pep talk before hand

On the bench waiting to hit

Matt helping Katherine getting the right stance.

Getting ready to bat. They get 3 tries of coach pitch, then hit off the tee. Katherine's 1st bat, she hit off the coach.

Giving the thumbs up after getting on base

Saturday night, I took Katherine to see her friend's dance studio preform Peter Pan. Keira did an excellent job!

Where else do you go when it's going to be 100 degrees? Of course we got there at 8:30am to avoid the heat and left the beach right before noon. 

Colin playing in the water. We have had an unusual high amount of seaweed this year, look at the wall behind Colin. That's all fresh seaweed, you can see a pile in the back where they have been pull dosing it. But it's good protection for the beach, as they are using the seaweed to make more sand dunes. 

Here comes a BIG one!

Katherine and Matt playing in the waves. They had so much fun out there.

Splash!

After the beach we grabbed lunch and of course some adult drinks that are served in coconuts! What's a trip to the beach without Pina Coladas!

Fontan delayed, trip to the river, water slides, and whiplash

So much to say in one post, so let's get started.

First and foremost, Colin was presented to the surgical team on Monday to decide on his next and hopefully last surgery, the Fontan. In April we were told it was going to be this summer or early fall. GOOD NEWS is the team decided Colin was doing so well that they want to wait until Spring so he can get a little bigger. Though we were ready to face the Fontan, it's great that Colin is doing well enough that we are not in a rush and can let his body get a little bigger. So for right now we will procrastinate the inevitable. 

We took a nice 3 day trip to New Braunfels this past weekend to meet up with my parents who were camping there. The city is an old german settlement nestled between two rivers in the Texas Hill Country. I love it there, I always have a hard time leaving. Friday my mom took the kids swimming and to play while the "BIG KIDS" (me, Matt, and my dad) went to Schlitterbahn. It's one of the countries top water parks. We decided not to take the kids since Colin is too small and Katherine has no interest in watersides.. YET.. still working on her. It was a very fun day racing down slides and floating in the tubes.

Saturday we took the kids and my parents to Landa Park, which is a park that sits on the river and uses river water for their pools. This is the 3rd year we have taken the kids there and they had fun as always swimming, looking for fish, ridding the train, and doing the paddle boats. I was brave enough to do the rope swing off the platform. First time I did it perfect, the next time, my hands slipped and I fell off too soon and landed on my face. It hurt pretty bad, but after 10 minutes I was fine. The next day though my neck was sore, Monday I went to the doctor and was treated for whiplash.. yes you read that correctly. 

Matt and Katherine being silly in the river

Beautiful day for a swim

Dad coming off the rope swing

Me coming off the rope swing the right way the 3rd time, I had to redeem myself after landing on my face

Ready for the choo choo train ride at Landa Park

Colin steering the boat while Matt and Katherine paddle

Katherine driving while Matt and I paddle, Colin is in the back looking at fish

Me & My dad at the Grapevine wine bar

Saturday night we went out to the historic town of Gruene (Green). We ate at the Gristmill, which is a restaurant that over looks the river in an old gristmill. Then we went to a wine bar that is a large lawn and had drinks while the kids played. It was a great evening with good food and even better company. Sunday we hung out for a little while in the morning before making the trip home. The park we camped at had lots of activities for the kids like a jumping pillow, game room, and pools.

Matt & my parents having drinks and listening to the band

Mom and the kids outside Gruene Hall, one of the oldest dance halls in Texas, still has regular concerts there every night over the summer

Katherine on the jumping pillow

Colin on the jumping pillow

Landa Park

CHD Father's Day Tribute - It's My Heart

I was honored to write up a guest blog for It's My Heart for a tribute to about Matt for their CHD Father's Day blog.  It's My Heart is the organization that we have raised over $15,000 for Team Colin to raise awareness for Congenital heart defects.

Matt has been my partner through all of this and sometimes I think the dads don't get all the credit they deserve. Please a minute to read Matt's Father's Day blog posting. Happy Father's Day to my outstanding husband, I love you so so much!!!

http://chdblog.org/support/heart-story/fathers-day-tribute-matt-eyring/

Sleepovers & Seagulls

Friday night Katherine got to invite a couple of friends over for a sleepover. All the girls were very well behaved and had lots of fun. They got to play outside, in the playroom, watch a Barbie movie, and camp out in their sleeping bags. I even got the girls to go to bed by 10:30pm, not too bad. Though at 2:00am, Katherine came to our room to tell us she no longer wanted to sleep on the floor and wanted to go sleep in her bed.

Sunday we went down to the beach with 3 other families to celebrate on of the boy's 3rd birthday. It was the perfect day at the beach with great friends. The kids love the beach and had so much fun sharing it with their friends. They packed a nice picnic lunch for everyone to enjoy. 

Colin ready to roll at 7:00am, we weren't leaving for 2 more hours!

Matt, just please buy me one of these! 

Colin - controller of all the sand buckets

Katherine running around the beach

Colin chasing the seagulls, please don't try to carry him away

Some of the kids playing in the water. There were 10 of them all together.

The "boys"

The "girls"

Colin does loves the beach so much!

9 years and counting! Happy Anniversary.

May 31st, Matt and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary.  How fast 9 years have gone! We have had so many great times, hard days, funny moments, and days I never waned to end. If possible, I love him now more than ever. Though everything, Matt is my best friend, my partner, my rock, my jester (he always makes me laugh), most importantly, the father of my two wonderful children. It's been  great ride so far, can't wait to see what the next 50 years bring us. 

Since our anniversary was on a Thursday night, we waited until Saturday to really celebrate. We were lucky and Matt's parents watched the kids for the afternoon and night, so we took a little day trip.. just the two of us. 

We went up to Texas A&M, where we went to college, where we met, where it all began. A&M was in the NCAA Baseball Regionals, so we got tickets to the game and a hotel so we can enjoy the game and go out to the bars afterwards.  It was hot when we first got there, but it cooled down nicely. Even though we lost the game, we had a great time. We will take the kids there next spring when the season starts off again. It has a nice playground in the outfield, where you can see the game and a nice big lawn section for the kids to run around. 

After then game, we relived our youth at Northgate (which is a row of 10 or so bars). I was very impressed I lasted until midnight :) The next morning we got up and went to the Bonfire Memorial. Bonfire was close and dear to my heart as I worked on it the first two years at A&M.  Bonfire was 109 feet tall using over 8,000 logs that the students cut down themselves. Tragically in 1999, Bonfire collapsed while students were working on it and killed 12 Aggies, one a grew up with. It is always an emotional time to revisit the polo fields where I made so many friends and so many great memories and know the destruction and the lives lost there.  

Each gateway is carved on the inside with the picture of the student and sayings or letters from their family. Each one faces the direction of their hometown.

After Bonfire memorial, we went and had lunch at one of our favorite places, then headed to pick up the kids. I was glad to see them. It's nice to get away just Matt and I but it is always great to have my kids back with me.